Slovakia’s Richard Varga led the swim, just as he had done in many races last year and had a 20-second lead on the next group heading out of T1.

After him came Gemmell, Tom Davison and Tony Dodds and they worked quickly to reel him in on the first lap. That was followed in the next lap by the Docherty-led pack, and a lead group of seven formed with Gemmell, Docherty, Davison, Dodds, Fisher, Varga and Ireland’s Benjamin Shaw.

The second course:

With 10km to go in the 40km leg, Gemmell went off the front. And after while Davison joined him and they flew off the front.Next group: Docherty, Dodds, Fisher, Shaw and Varga, let them go and in the final two laps of the bike leg, Gemmell and Davison suddenly turned a small advantage into almost a minute lead at the start of the run.

The final course:

While Docherty and Fisher gained slightly on him in the first two laps. While Davison dropped, Gemmell found a second wind and cruised to the win.